Some notes on Anne and warm weather

We first came to Longboat Key, outside Sarasota, at the invitation of a friend, Dr. Munir Jabbur, and his wife, Ellen, a tennis friend’s of Anne. Munir patched up my broken collarbone after a 1989 bicycle accident; he then did my hip replacement surgery in 1993. We last saw Munir in our condo for supper in Longboat Key a few years ago. It was clear to me that he wasn’t well. He said nothing about his illness, but he was dying. He died a few days after he arrived back in Albany. He explained to Ellen that he had arranged things for her; he smiled, said goodbye, and died.

Munir Jabbur was Syrian; he did his M.D. at the American College in Lebanon. He and his wife invited us to stay with them in their condo in Longboat Key during the winter break in 2002; Anne rented a place for a few months for the following year. I joined her for the January break, and our children also visited her in the small rental unit for the months that she had it in 2003. Anne loved being warm and wasn’t sick once away from the severe Albany winters, so she bought a one bedroom condo just before leaving to return to Albany in the spring of 2003. We spent our time there—she for winters, and I for school breaks. She later bought another two bedroom unit in the same development several years ago, in 2011; this is where we now live full-time. The second bedroom is filled, not with beds, but all of my books and some 15 bookcases. She left her professional life at the university after some 40 years. I left mine after some 50 years.

Anne worked in the University at Albany Library until she retired from there in 1989 . She was remarkably successful. She wrote four books and was a bottomless source of vitality; she energized others in her wide-ranging activities. She was head of Library Instruction and wrote two books in that capacity. But she decided to get a doctorate in children’s literature, and had to take a year’s leave of absence to meet the graduate residence requirement; when she returned to the library she did not get her former position back. She was appointed to a new position; she was now head of Library Public Relations. It was in that capacity that she wrote two more books, both in connection with events that she organized. These two programs focused on Albany and were funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. One was on the city of Albany; the other was on the churches and synagogues of Albany. The books came out of year-long programs that she organized, with talks given at various sites throughout the city. The talks were very well-attended and highly successful.

Anne organized another program in 1984, a 20th-year celebration of the Free Speech movement at Berkeley, which began the year after we came to Albany from UC Berkeley. She attracted one of her former professors from Berkeley to participate, a Chaucer specialist, Charles Muscatine, who had been active in the Free Speech Movement and revision of the new curriculum at Berkeley. She also invited Sheldon Wolin, a prominent UC Berkeley political scientist, who was now teaching on the east coast. Anne also included several faculty members at Albany who had been at Berkeley for the panel discussions on the Free Speech Movement which she called “Berkeley Revisited: The Impact of the 1964 Movement.” Our eldest son, James, had just graduated from UC Berkeley, and he was also part of the panel on what Berkeley was like in 1984. It was a well- attended and most stimulating event.

Anne was an energetic force in the University Library. She organized events, was close to President Vincent O’Leary, and was one of the first to receive an award as distinguished librarian. When a new person became head of the library in 1989, she placed Anne under someone else; Anne retired after serving in that capacity for a year. She subsequently taught adjunct courses about children’s literature in the Reading Department in the School of Education. She brought energy and creativity to her courses and extended her influence and friendship to a new circle of faculty and graduate students.

But the winters were hard on Anne. We spent two Easters in Naples, Florida, and this is where we now live full-time. The 51 years Anne and I spent in Albany were rich and varied; we look back on our time in Albany, a city that is rich in history, with many memories. And the University at Albany was our professional home for many years; we are grateful for that.

Warren Roberts

Comments are closed.

Note: The Times Union is not responsible for posts and comments written by non-staff members.